Last week we used the power of social media to gather some of your top wildlife photography questions. Take a read through my answers below from a selection of  the great response we had to our request.

Your Wildlife Photography Questions Answered

 1.What is the quintessential photo that encapsulates the whole safari experience? – @GOCRAVERAVE via Instagram

This is a tough question! Some shots will mean more to people than others. But I think that there are a few that really capture the essence of Londolozi, and the safari experience. There are too many, however, to talk about in one post, but these are my top six:

You can’t beat an African sun setting below a horizon of trees – signalling the end to another day in the bush. Photograph by Amanda Ritchie

Elephants walking across an open plain also evoke rich memories of the bush. We are merely here to observe how these animals live in their natural habitat. Photograph by Rich Laburn

Watching a breeding herd of elephants drinking is something incredibly special. You get to watch their social nature at its best – more often than not ending in a playful encounter.

The Londolozi Ranger Team most certainly hold these shots in high regard. There is something so special about lions crossing the Sand River.

I have had many guests in the Londolozi Studio who lose their words when they review their images of a cheetah standing and looking out from the vantage of on a fallen tree. When they find their words again, they express amazement at how quintessentially African that scene is for them. And I have to agree with them wholeheartedly.

2. If you could take one lens with you, what would it be?- @afterangela via Instagram

The answer to this question really boils down to your photographic objective. You may be wanting to capture all the wonderful birds that the bush has to offer. In which case a big fixed telephoto lens is your best friend (anything from a 300 mm to a 600 mm, depending on your luggage allowance). Conversely, you may want to capture the landscapes and scenery. Here, a shorter, wider angled lens is your best bet. If I could take only one lens out with me, it would have to be an 80-400 mm lens, allowing me to get a really good range for capturing subjects both far and near.

3. What is the most difficult animal you have had to photograph?- @melukepl via Instagram

This, again, is a tough question to answer. Sometimes it’s not so much the animal that is difficult to capture (because that’s more about luck). Rather the situation that you find yourself in when you do come across those animals. Nocturnal animals are fleeting and can be very difficult to capture – particularly when the light drops. Here, the difficulty is more in choosing the right settings than it is in capturing the animal.

Fast moving animals (like birds, or animals in flight) are particularly difficult to capture. Again, knowing the correct settings and always being prepared are paramount.

Fast moving animals (like birds, or animals in flight) are particularly difficult to capture.Again, knowing the correct settings and always being prepared are paramount.

Elusive animals – like a pangolin for instance – are difficult to capture, simply because they are so incredibly rare. Photograph by Amy Attenbourgh

Finally, from a personal perspective, I find photographing hippos one of the most challenging things. Often all you can see is a pair of ears, the top of a head, some nostrils and the body of water around them. Every shot seems to look the same. Here, I find that focusing on composition of the shot makes the biggest difference. By really making the most of your zoom, and getting into a closely composed shot of the details (the whiskers, the tactility of the skin and the way their eyes inspect you), you will more often than not get an interesting perspective that will make the shot.

Make the most of your zoom! A closely composed shot of the details (the whiskers, the tactility of the skin and the way their eyes inspect you), will more often than not get an interesting perspective that will make the shot.

4. What post-processing technique do you use to isolate the animal and leave the background empty?- @travelingtulls via Instagram

This is a great question! And a chance for me to show you one of my favourite post-processing techniques. The burning and dodging capability of Lightroom. I love the subtlety of this technique, and how it really guides the eye to the part of the photograph that I want the viewer to be focused on. You can vary the degree by which you use this technique to suit the vision you have for your photograph.

Keep reading the blog for more post-processing tutorials to come in future.

5. What minimal megapixel on a camera do you need to shoot wildlife?- @momokatz11 via Instagram

This is a great technical question! It needs to be governed by your objective for your photographs. What you ultimately want to do with the end-result (printing vs online use). When we talk about pixels (short for picture elements), we are referring to the thing that captures and carries information about light and colour. A camera’s sensor is made up of a grid of millions of microscopic, light-recording devices called photo sites. Each photo site represents one pixel. When we refer to an 8MP camera, this tells us that the camera’s sensor has roughly 8 million photo sites. The need for a higher resolution image would vary depending on whether you want to use your photographs for printing onto canvas or photo paper. Or if you wanted to use them to create an online album for sharing with friends and family on Facebook.

What about printing?

For printing, it is always recommended to bring a camera that has a large sensor size. It’s important to know that sensor sizes vary enormously from camera to camera. This impacts the quality of your photos. A typical dSLR sensor will measure 23,5 x 15,7mm, which should provide a good quality image. For the best result, you are going to want to bring a camera with a full-frame sensor – in the region of 36 x 24mm.

This will allow a much higher megapixel count and the luxury of having more pixels to throw away if you need to crop into your photo. This will render the best quality shots in the varied lighting conditions that the bush has to offer. More megapixels, however, means more cost – which is another consideration. Chances are that your camera will already have a decent sensor size already, but a good guide would be to use a sensor with an average of 10-15 megapixels.

6. My favourite form of wildlife photography is having an animal walk away from me after a close encounter, as it lets you imagine “the journey from and to”. This means I’m photographing the animals from behind. Given this, what is the best positioning for the animal(s) in the photograph to give the greatest effect? – @gwest_captured via Instagram

Photography is an art form, and one that really lets us express ourselves to others using a frozen moment in time to tell a story. Capturing an animal’s journey as they wander through the bush is a fantastic way to tell a story, and positioning yourself behind the animal allows you to see the world from the animal’s perspective. I would always try and compose this type of shot with all of the elements that tell the story for you. Including a curving piece of the road or path that the animal is walking along always helps to give movement and flow to the shot, giving a sense of direction.

I would also always try and include some part of the horizon (or surrounds) in your shot to give a sense of space as well. To finish off, I would always try and ensure that you have thought through your focus points – ensuring that either the back of the animal is sharp and clear, drawing your eye to it, and denoting the beginning of the photographic story, or you have chosen a similarly sharp part of the shot to grab the viewer’s attention. As always, photography is a highly personal practice, and should always make the most sense to you, first and foremost.

Capturing an animal’s journey as they wander through the bush is a fantastic way to tell a story, and positioning yourself behind the animal allows you to see the world from the animal’s perspective.

7. What is metering and how do the different types work. – Ian Hall via the Londolozi blog

Thanks to Ian, who raised this question with me a few blog posts ago, we can touch on metering for new photographers who are often intimidated by their metering settings. Metering is simply a way for your camera to assess how much light is present in the scene that is being photographed. Historically, photographers used a light meter (which many still do) to measure the amount of light available on their subject. Nowadays, the dSLR cameras have a way of measuring the available light in order to decide how it is going to expose the scene. However, as we know, light levels vary quite drastically, creating a need for our cameras to have a number of different ways to measure light in order to correctly expose the shot. These are known as metering modes and are usually expressed in three ways:

Centre-weighted metering

Most common in digital cameras, the metering is biased or weighted to the centre of the viewfinder and then averaged out for the rest of the scene. The camera will then take the measurement of light from the centre and ‘guess’ how it will be spread across the rest of the scene. If there is a big difference between the darkest and lightest parts of the image, the camera will try and find the most appropriate setting to evenly light the whole image. Centre-weighted is most commonly used for portrait shots where the subject is standing in the centre of the shot.

This image indicates how the centre-weighted metering works- showing the bright spot in the middle and the way the camera will average the exposure out towards the edges. Most common in digital cameras, the metering is biased or weighted to the centre of the viewfinder and then averaged out for the rest of the scene.

Spot / Partial metering

Here, the camera takes the reading from one specific spot and sets an accurate exposure for that part of the image only. No readings are taken from any other part of the image. True spot metering will measure roughly the inner most 1-2% of the image. Partial metering will take into account about 9-10% of the image as a measurement. This type of metering should be used when the subject has to be correctly exposed no matter what the lighting is like around the rest of it. This will ensure the most predictable exposure results. It can get tricky if the metering spot does not provide the best average, allowing for over or under-exposure across the rest of the image.

Here, the light spot in the middle shows you how the camera will take a reading from one place. It’ll then set an accurate exposure for that part of the image only.

Matrix metering

This is the most sophisticated type of light metering, and is often the default mode for most cameras. It works by taking lots of different readings across the scene, while also taking into account the position of the main subject. The foreground and the background, any colouring, highlights, shadows or backlighting. The camera then takes this information and compares it to a database of similar ‘typical’ types of scenes. It guesses what type of picture is being taken, exposing it accordingly.

What type is best

If there are no big differences between the light and dark areas of the image, use matrix metering. However, if you can see clear light and dark differences, it’s best to go with a spot/ partial or centre weighted metering.

Learn more about Photographic Safari

At Londolozi, wildlife photography holds an important place. We use it as a way to reconnect with nature, with the animals that inhabit the Game Reserve with us. This is why this article ain’t the only one we wrote about photography. If ever you want to learn more about wildlife photography, please feel free to consult our Guide to Wildlife Photography.

If you want to know what wildlife photography is at Londolozi, check out our Photographic Safari experience page !

Read more about:

• 5 Quick Tips for Wildlife Photography
• 6 Simple Photography Questions you were afraid to ask
• 5 Tips for Soulful Photography
• 5 Tips for Summer Photography
• 6 Top Tips on Photography from Londolozi
• 6 Tricks to Bird Photography

Thanks for these wildlife photography questions!

These wildlife photography questions were a lot of fun to answer (and quite challenging at times!).

Please keep them coming and I will feature yours in an upcoming post.

Written by Amanda Ritchie, Photography Studio Manager